The Sitcom Mission

With an emphasis firmly on script development, The Sitcom Mission is an international sitcom writing competition, 'The X Factor for sitcoms'. It showcases 15-minute sitcom scripts at The New Diorama Theatre in London in front of the British TV and radio comedy industry.

The 2010 winner was Bryn Mills with his sitcom Thunderer; in the 2011 contest it was Emma Edwards and Abigail Dooley with What Next?; in 2012 Snez Naik's Yo Valet walked away with the prize and in 2013 it was sketch group Those Three Girls with their writer/performance piece Girlband. Last year's joint winners were Adapting by Rob Bond and Warts and All by James Alleyne.

One of the runners-up in 2011, In The Meantime, by Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Jones, was optioned by Hat Trick Productions. Andrew says, "This is a great opportunity to have your work read and assessed by lots of very useful people!" Previous winners Thunderer by Bryn Mills, What Next? by Emma Edwards and Abigail Dooley, and Yo Valet by Snez Naik were all optioned by Hat Trick.

The Sitcom Mission has the central aim of getting a situation comedy commissioned either on TV, radio or online. We've evolved the competition and the theme now is script development. We're looking for writers who can take notes, are tenacious, thrive on feedback, love re-writing and adore the process just as much as the end result.

We'll be working with up to four writers (or writing partnerships/groups) in order to develop their sitcoms and take them to an industry showcase at London's New Diorama Theatre. We've got the ear of the independent production companies, and the four winners will get feedback from development officers at companies such as Avalon, Bwark, So! Television, Channel X, Left Bank and others that are coming on board all the time.

The prize for winning this year's Sitcom Mission is better than ever. The winner will have their script cast, filmed and edited using broadcast quality equipment and marketed by the good folk at City Academy. The winner be invited to sit in on the editing sessions and, once the episode is complete, City Academy will circulate the final edit to the industry and make it available online. It's an excellent calling card and furthers the Sitcom Mission's commitment to helping new, developing and established writers on their journey in the industry.

Entry for The Sitcom Mission 2015 has now closed, but we will return in 2016